’S6.17AM, thesunis abouttoriseandI’m
ittingontheroof,lookingdownovera sleepy
ew York City. Sobeautiful, so magical, so
eeminglypeaceful.I lovethiscityandI dolove
umankind.Wearethisweirdspecies,driven
y somanydifferentmotivations.Responsible
orsomuchbeauty,butalsosomuchhorror.
g fora callfromAustraliatotalktoBAZAAR
s VictoriaLee,GemmaWard,AlexandraAgos-
ton,GeorgiaFowlerandCharleeFraseraboutthecur-
rentstateofouroceans—particularlytheGreatBarrier
Reef,wherethey’recurrentlyshooting[seepage86].
SevenyearsagoI foundedtheenvironmentalorganisa-
tionParleyfortheOceanswithmypartner,LeaStepken,
aftermeetinga trueoceanwarrior.“Iftheoceansdie,we
die,”CaptainPaulWatsonofSeaShepherdtoldmeina
tiny lawyer’s office in Frankfurt, Germany — he had
beenarrestedforprotectinglifeintheoceans.Beforethis
moment,I’ddistancedmyselffromtheharshrealitiesof
ourtimesbytheemotionalfirewallofcynicism,butthis
perspective paled and even felt cowardly when he
answeredmy question“Isn’tthisa lostcause?”witha
WinstonChurchillquote:“Thelostcausesaretheonly
ones worthfighting for.” In that moment,something
changedinmeandI realisedhowlonelyI had
felt foryears, howegocentric I hadbeen in
navigatingthroughmycreativecareer.Listen-
ingto thecaptainmademeunderstandI could
tradea lifeof competitionforsomethingmuch
bigger,anddrivea movementthatinspiresand
empowersthefewpeoplewhowanttotakea
stand to use their skills,their influenceand
theirideastoturnthingsaround.
Most mornings since we started Parley, I
wake entangledin strongemotions. Fearof
beingtooslow,fearofnotusingtheopportu-
nitiesinthemostefficientway,fearofdrown-
ing incomplexity,fearof beingjustanother
wordspitterwithnorealimpact.Sometimesit
takesuptotwohourstofindmywaybackto
thepositiveside.Nottoday.
Today,I amexcited.Aftersuccessfullyturn-
ingbrandssuchas adidas,CoronaandAmeri-
canExpressintocorporateactivists,intoallies
in ourbattle against the destruction of our
seas,weannouncedourFutureIslandNation
program during the 74th United Nations
General Assembly, with the Republic of Maldives as our first
memberstate.Thenewlyelectedgovernmentsigneda long-term
membershipagreement,joiningourcollaborationnetworkwith
commitmentstotransformtheircountryintoa futurelaboratory,
a blueprintforrapidchange,wheretoxicmaterials,harmfulenergy
sourcesandillegalfishingpracticeshavenoplace.
I wanttotellthefivecoverstars,whoarecurrentlywitnessing
thebeautyandfragilityoftheoceanonHaymanIsland,Australia,
thatwhenI metCaptainPaulWatsonI realisedthreethings.One:
lifeintheoceanwillbedeadby 2048 at thelatest,andthelegacy
of our generation might be a dead sea. Two: behind every environ-mentalissueis a faultyeconomicmodel.And
ourclass,thecreativeindustry,candrivechange
faster than anyone else by inspiring and
empowering creators,thinkersandleaders to
owntheenvironmentalmovement.Three:we
havetomakeit morelucrativeto protectthe
oceansthanto destroythem.While wecan’t
changefastenoughhowsuccessfulleadershipis
definedtoday,wecanbuildonthatpowerful
humaninstinct,survival.Ourapproachis very
simple: make environmentalism super sexy,
andredefineitstoneintooneofcreativity,col-
laborationandeco-innovationinsteadofbor-
ing‘sustainability’andvillainisingblame.
Plasticis a designfailure.It shedsnanoparti-
clesandleachestoxicchemicals.It doesthingsto
our environment and to our own bodies the
harmof whichweareonlyjuststartingto under-
stand.Plasticis nowthesymbolofa generation
of materialsthatnolongerhaveanyplacein our
lives. There’s no simple remedy for this. But
therearestrategiesforcreatinga climateofchange.Wefindour
answerandcalltoactionin ParleyAIR:Avoid.Intercept.Redesign.
Whilewearetryingtoavoidplasticwherepossible,intercepting
plasticwastefromnatureandupcyclingit insteadofmakingmore
newplastic,wecanonlytrulywinthisbattleagainstthedestruc-
tionofouroceansbyinventingnewmaterialsandcreatingnew
ingredientsfortheproductswemake.Weneedmaterialsthatfol-
lowtheprinciplesofgreenchemistryandbiofabricationthathar-
nessthelivingfactories—fungi,bacteria,algae—thatformthe
buildingblocksofourworld.It soundslikethestuffofsci-fi,but
naturehasspentmillionsofyearsinresearchanddevelopment.
Nowit’stimetocreatea betterfuture,onethatcansupportour
survival,withnewways of creating, thinking and living on our
finite, blue planet.Cool in
ParleyfortheOceans
founderCyrillGutschhas
convincedbrandssuchas
adidasandAmerican
Expresstorethinktheir
plasticuse,soweasked
theeco-warriortohelp
ourcoverstarschannel
theirinfluencetotakea
standagainstourcurrent
eco-nightmarea crisis
VictoriaLeeatthe
Great Barrier Reef.DARREN
Mc
DONALD. STYLED BY NAOMI SMITH.
59 HARPERSBAZAAR.COM.AU December 2019
VIEWpoint